First Week of July 2013

The first week of July went by extremely fast and was extremely busy with many activities planned during my off hours.

On Tuesday, July 2nd, we went on a MWR trip souvenir shopping downtown.  I'm having fun buying little trinkets and souvenirs as I go and using them to decorate my room.

On Wednesday, July 3rd I celebrated my 38th birthday. By the request of my husband, my birthday morning started with a video call home.  I was surprised to find 14 or so people at our house gathered to wish me a happy birthday and eat some cake.  The cake was from Aggie's and looked amazing.  I wish technology was advanced enough for me to reach out and grab a piece.  At lunch my coworkers and friends sang happy birthday to me in the galley.  Then in the evening the Camp was having a 5K for Independence Day.  I was already planning on running the race, but one of my new friends made me a "Birthday Girl" crown to wear to let everyone know it was my special day!  I always had to laugh to myself though when somebody would ask me if it was my birthday after seeing it on my head.

For the Fourth of July I went on an all day snorkeling adventure.  The boat ride out to the prime snorkeling spots took an hour to get to. I enjoyed the ride and the fresh air.  I didn't see anything super exotic while snorkeling, but the fish and coral reef were really pretty.  I always feel like I'm swimming in an aquarium when I'm snorkeling and I absolutely love it.  After about an hour we moved to our second snorkeling spot where the crew then served up lunch.  We had an amazing salad, rice, chicken, and beef skewers.  The food was so delicious.  After letting the food settle just a bit, it was time to get back in the water and do some more snorkeling.  The water was so warm and clear.  I loved the whole day of being in the sun and wind.

On Friday, July 5th, the whole office went out to dinner to a pizza place for a going away for two people who will be re-deploying soon.  The pizza was served as a buffet, but what that really meant was the staff would just keep bringing different pizza to our table.  My favorite was a white sauce pizza with ham and onion.  Again delicious!!

On Saturday, July 6th, I had to work and didn't leave camp, but I did get notice that a Wet CLU had become available for me and Saturday night turned into moving day.  I loved my CLUmate Val a ton and am gonna miss coming "Home" and talking with her, but having my own CLU with a shared bathroom with just one other person is so nice!!  It only took a couple of hours to move and it's nice knowing that this is my "permanent" home for the rest of the time I'm here.

Sunday, July 7th brought another Sunday funday adventure.  This week we were off to Lake Assal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Assal_(Djibouti)).  Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and is one of the saltiest lakes in the world (even saltier then the Dead Sea). Before we got to Lake Assal, we stopped to view the Djiboutian "Grand Canyon".  Although not quite as spectacular as the U.S.'s Grand Canyon, it was still impressive.  After some photos we were on our way.






Right before we got to the Lake we stopped to explore a hot springs.  Some people who were with us that had last been to the area in February, had said the landscape had changed quite a bit since the heavy rain Djibouti received in March. It was a nice little hike with interesting rock formations.  Once at the lake our bus driver drove out onto the hardened salt and parked the bus.  It was time to go into the lake!  The water was very warm and quite shallow.  After wading out quite the distance, I finally sat back in the water to feel the crazy sensation of water being too "thick" to go under due to the salt content.  I have to say, the Dead Sea was much better for that feeling and that is mostly because it is deeper.  I think it was just too shallow to truly feel the effects.  I did however, enjoy walking along in the water and looking at the salt deposits and formations.  Seeing as it was 125 degrees at the lake we only stayed for about 45 minutes and then headed back to camp.  We did stop however at a
restaurant that Leah had recommended call La Mer Rouge.  This is a seafood place that looks terrible from the outside, but once inside is a beautiful gem.  Once again I had another delicious meal!!  If I'm not careful, I might actually gain weight while I'm here!!

Green Tire Beach Adventure

Unfortunately it's been a couple of weeks since my last post because there wasn't a whole lot of stuff going on.  I believe I last left off that we were going to go to Lake Assal and Green Tire beach on 16 June, but that didn't happen.  We were unable to secure transportation, so Camp was the place to be.

On Friday 14 June, April and I went with the MWR trip to Le Kokeb Ethiopian Dinner and Dance show, which is a restaurant in Djibouti City.  Normally the trips are full, but for whatever reason there were only 5 of us.  The food is served on a platter to share with everyone and you eat with your hands using a bread like substance.  The bread itself is pretty sour, but eaten with the food is delicious!  I was thankful that Leah had introduced me to the Ethiopian restaraunt in downtown Milwaukee before I came here so I already knew what I was in for.  It was just like back in Milwaukee!  The dancing was fun to watch, but after a couple of dances I think we were all tired and ready to go.

Sunday 16 June was Father's day and being a holiday, the Morale, Welfare, Recreation (MWR) staff put on a Father's Day bingo event!  We each got 6 cards to play 9 different games.  The theme of each game was the letters to spell out fathers (so the first game to get bingo was an f, the second game an a, so on and so forth.)  Unfortunately I didn't win at bingo (got close a couple of times), but I did win a Djibouti t-shirt in a raffle drawing.  It was a lot of fun and I almost fell like I was back at Potawatomi. For dinner we headed back into Djibouti City and returned to La Fontaine.  It was so good the first time, we had to give it another go.  This time we must have missed something in translation, because we thought we ordered the same thing as before, but this time in addition to the yummy plate of food we were expecting, we also got a plate of grilled chicken and beef.  Unfortunately it came to our table as we were already full on the other food, but I had to give it a try.  It was so delicious!!  I was mad I didn't have more room. We got the leftover food wrapped up to go and gave it to some Djiboutians on the street.

The following weekend I had a whole lot of nothing planned, which was just fine by me.  I needed a day to relax and not be anywhere at any appointed time.  I did take in the move "Side Effects" at the theater.

So now I get to the point where I have finally made it to Green Tire Beach.  Yesterday, Sunday 30 June, about 20 of us took the trip.  After a stop at the Casino Supermarche (don't get excited it's not really a casino, but a grocery store), to pick up food to grill at the beach we were on our way.  Might I say first however, how nice the store was.  I almost felt like I was back in the States or at least minimally somewhere in Europe.  I didn't buy anything, but it seemed so clean and out of place for what I have seen of Djibouti thus far.  It took about an hour to get to the beach.  On the way there we played a fun name game.  Somebody starts by naming somebody famous like Oprah Winfrey.  Then the next person has to name someone using the first letter of the last name from the person before like Whitney Houston.  So on and so forth.  That kept us entertained for quite awhile. It always seemed so easy until it was your turn then your brain went blank!

Finally we saw the green tire thus marking our turn towards the beach!  The sand is course with sharp rocks and shells.  A group of us headed straight away to take the hike to the place where we were going to go jumping into the water.  It was quite the hike over uneven, sharp lava rock.  The water was an amazing color of blue.  I had to stop sometimes to just take it all in. I was pretty hot and looking to cool off, so it wasn't too hard to talk me into jumping.  When standing on the little ledge and looking down it seemed kind of scary, but then you do the jump and look up and realize it wasn't that far at all.  Then you feel silly for ever being scared, until you get out to do it again. I jumped from a higher point the second time and it was just as fun.  The jumps were probably about 15 to 20 feet.

Nearby was a dormant volcano that I wanted to climb.  Myself and three others took the adventure.  The guys headed out first and looked like they were making decent progress, so myself and Aimee went up next.  Unfortunately I took a path that had a ton of loose rock.  At one point I wasn't sure I was going to make it up or go back down. The adrenaline took over and I powered through to move away from the loose gravel to a little bit more stable (not much) rock and made it to the top of the volcano.  What an amazing view!!  It was interesting to see the inside of the crater and take the walk around the entire rim.  The breeze was wonderful as well!!  We knew heading down would be a challenge with the loose rock, so Aimee and I took our time.  Some if it down on our butt, some if it side stepping.  I was happy to be back down at the bottom.  We headed back and when we got back to the jumping spot I gladly jumped again to cool off before we made the long trek back to the beach.  At the beach all I wanted was some water or Gatorade and a sandwich.  I didn't go swimming at all, as my legs were still wobbly from the climb and hike.  It was good just to sit down and relax,  Around 5:30 it was time to pack up and head back to camp.  We stopped at a scenic overlook and caught a beautiful sunset.  All in all it was a great day.  Not sure what the next adventure will be, but you can be sure it will be a blog post!

First Impressions of Djibouti

So here I am in Djibouti, Africa.  I probably should have started these posts 3 weeks ago when I first got here while things were still fresh in my mind, but I think it was all a little overwhelming.  Well now that I've been here for a few weeks, I think I'm settled in and can write about my adventure so far.

So my first impression of Djibouti was that it was hot, dirty, stinky, and dusty.  I didn't actually get to leave the Camp for the first week and a half, so no real stories to tell there.  I spent my time at the movie theater and inside my CLU (Containerized Living Unit) to stay cool.  I went for my first run three days after I arrived.  It was a little shock to the system to be running in such heat, but I have since built back up to a 3 mile run that I normally start at 5:00a.m. when it's only 87-92 degrees outside.  My goal while I'm here is to run 200 miles to get the free t-shirt.  14.8 miles down, 185.2 miles to go.  I'm not going to lie, it's a real struggle every morning that I'm planning on running to not hit snooze and go back to sleep, but instead get up and go outside and sweat like crazy for 3 miles.

The first time I went off base was for a going away dinner for one of the people re-deploying.  We went to the Djibouti Bowling Alley!  I was excited to maybe get a game or two in, but unfortunately we never bowled.  Another large group from the Camp had also come for a going away party. They got in ahead of us and were seated first. It took 3 1/2 hours to get seated, have our orders taken, and the food brought out.  It was a long evening and the food was ok.  Maybe I'll make it back again to actually bowl!

The next opportunity I had to leave Camp was to head to Menelik Square in Djibouti City to drop off some rungu sticks that were going to be engraved as going away gifts for those re-deploying.  We ate at a restaurant called La Fontaine and the food was excellent!  We had a dish that had finally chopped bread (similar to pita bread) along with egg, cabbage, onion, banana, some sort of sauce, french fries, and either chicken or beef.  Both were delicious and surprisingly filling.  The meal was made on a grill outside where we could watch and talk with the cook.  The cook was offering us some free French lessons.  I also had a bottle of Coke with my meal that I wasn't able to finish and took with me. As we walked down the street I had several children ask me for my Coke.  I felt so bad, but I told them no.  I should have said yes, as I never ended up finishing my drink anyway.  After dinner, it was on to do a little shopping where I bought two wood carved vases.

 

This past Sunday was my first trip off Camp during day light hours. As we drove through the city I noticed a lot of garbage and run-down looking buildings.  As we got more to the outskirts of town, I started seeing shanty towns and even more garbage.  Once we got out of town I saw a lot of rock.  I was really surprised at how rocky the landscape was.  There was a lot of volcanic activity here which probably explains the rocks.  We drove for about an hour and half to get to our destination to
include driving through a part of the Grand Bara desert.  I think this is the first desert I've been too, that actually looked like a desert that we're taught.  Nothing but sand for miles.  Our destination was the second largest city in Djibouti, Al Sabieh, where there are some old Italian bunkers from WWII. As we approached the gate for the city our bus driver was told we had to check in at the police station. (They have a gate to the city to prevent refugees from coming in.)  We drove to the
police station where a group of people and kids soon found us as the main attraction.  I felt like the animal at the zoo, as all the children were looking at us through the bus windows.  Most were friendly and waved, but some provided us other gestures of "welcome".  Once we were cleared we went to another government building, where I think the children just followed our bus.  With final approval we headed back to the bunkers and started our hiking.

We got to the first bunker and climbed in over a pile of plastic bags.  I have no idea where all of these bags come from.  We went right to a dead end, then we went left to another dead end.  After that, I felt more comfortable just hiking the big hills and getting a good view of the city. Unfortunately it was a really hazy day, so visibility wasn't perfect.  Several members of the group explored the bunkers and tunnels and reported back their experience with bats, guano, and spiders.  Yeah, no thanks. I enjoyed my time in the fresh air.  At one of the bunkers I could see the bats flying by the entrance.  I thought this would be a good video moment.  Wouldn't you know, one flew right out and towards me as I was filming?  Of course I screamed and laughed at the same time.  After a couple of hours we all had our fill and were ready for lunch.

We headed to a local restaurant where I had a beef kebab. It was very tasty, although I was surprised when I bit into what I thought was a regular green pepper, to find out that it was a jalapeno or something hotter than a regular green pepper.  I was told by others with the same meal that they weren't hot, but I beg to differ.  I gladly gave them away. The meat was chewey but tasty and I'm happy to report that I didn't get sick from the meal (always a concern when eating food outside of Camp).

We wanted to go shopping at the town market, but it was only 2:45 and the markets don't open back up until around 4:00.  Lucky for us, the place where we ate also had a house where American military members stay that we were able to hang out in to relax and watch a little tv.  At 4:00 we got directions to the market and made our way.  Well . . .we thought we had directions to the market. Needless to say, other than khat stands (khat is a legal drug in Djibouti that is chewed, but has similar effects of cocaine) and garments, we didn't really see a market.  We gave up and headed home.

This next's week adventure takes me to an Ethiopian Dinner Dance show on Friday, and on Sunday we're hoping for a trip to Lake Assal (the saltiest in the world) and Green Tire beach.  (The name of the beach received it's name by the green tire landmark where you turn to get there.)

Getting Home

Ok, so I thought the "Final Days in Costa Rica" was going to be my last post, but I didn't have a chance to get it posted before the adventure continued.  After we got on the plane in Costa Rica we sat for about 3 hours as we waited for maintenance to fix a problem with the plane.  Yup guess what this meant . . . once again we missed our connection in Atlanta.  We ended up spending the night in Atlanta, and after 4 hours sleep we were back at the airport and finally on our way home.  It's not often that both legs of the vacation get delayed, but it's been awhile since I've had "nightmare" travel, so I guess we were do.  However, as I always say, safety first, so I'm glad maintenance was able to fix the problem and get us home safely. Until the next adventure . . . adios.

Final Days in Costa Rica

Well not much to write about on Thursday.  Our last full day was spent relaxing by the beach and pool.  No major adventures to be had . . .although I tried to attempt a geocaching adventure.  The compass said it was only .86 miles away, but as I headed the direction I needed to go I found myself going up and down some massive hills and round corners and getting farther away from the cache then closer.  The closest I got was .35 miles as the crow flies, but I think I would have ended up walking 3 miles to get there.  Not the smartest thing to do by myself on those hilly roads, so I turned around and went back.


Today (Friday) we are on our way home to super cold, crappy Wisconsin weather.  We hope to bring the warmth and sunshine with us.  We had a great time in Costa Rica!!!

ATV'ing

This morning's adventure allowed us to sleep in a little bit as we weren't meeting until 9:15a.m.  This time it was only a short drive to our excursion location.  Once we got our lesson on how to operate our ATV we were on our way.  I gladly volunteered to go last as I knew I would probably be the Sunday driver of the group (and I was).  The tour had us going on the roads for a ways before we turned down a dirt path.  Here we stopped so they could give us goggles and mouth masks.  I'm glad we had those . . . boy was it dry and dusty!!  After driving for some time on the dirt road we stopped for a short 10 minute break to have a drink.  Once the pit stop was over our trail took us into the forest and up and down some pretty rocky hills.  I can't lie  . . . this was not my favorite thing to do.  I'm not an overly experienced ATV driver and I didn't really like going up and down over the big rocks.  Once we finally got past those rocky hills we drove through some little streams and before we knew it we were back on the road and right back to where we started.  All in all, not my favorite excursion, but I'm glad we did it.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the beach (or in Tom's case in our room taking an hour and a half nap) and pool. Tomorrow is our last full day and I'm looking forward to relaxing and catching as many rays as I can before we have to head back to the Wisconsin winter.

Zip Lining!!!

What an adventure we had today!!!  This morning we headed out around 7:30a.m. for a horseback ride, zip lining, and volcanic mud bath tour.  It was about another hour drive to our destination.  First up, a horseback ride up the mountain to get to the zip lines.  I think this was the first time I've been horseback riding where the horses didn't really stay in a straight line.  The horses kept changing positions and doing their own thing which made it kind of fun.  It was a really scenic ride that took about a half an hour. 

Next stop . . ziplining.  There were 10 zip lines in all and they were so much longer and better then the zip lines we had previously done in St. Martin.  Even the people we were with who had done zip lining in Costa Rica before, said these were better zip lines.  The guys running the zip line were great.  They let several of us girls go "supergirl" style which was us strapped to the guide with us facing down and arms out like we were flying.  Holy adrennal rush!!!  On the last zip which was the shortest and slowest, several in our group went upside down.  Tom said it was kind of scary!  I didn't do it as I had the camera.  After ziplining we had a great lunch.  I had steak fajitas and Tom had a chicken sandwich.  The food was very delicious!!  

Next up was the mud bath.  Before we could cake on the mud, we sat in a sauna that was heated by the volcanic hot spring.  Then it was mud time!  It reminded me of our mud experience at the Dead Sea in Jordan!!  After being rinsed off we sat in three different "hot tubs" to finish the cleansing process.  

Once again, a great day with a great adventure!!  Loved every minute of it.  Can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday and that we only have a couple of days left.  It's going by much too quickly!!

Gone Fishing!

Our day started early with a 6:00a.m. show time at the beach to be picked up for our fishing trip.  It was cool and calm on the waters.  The small boat held Tom Sr, Pete's Dad Terry, Tom and I, and our two fishing guides.  The guides didn't speak a lot of English and the trip was pretty quiet and relaxing . . . almost too relaxing!!  We saw a sea turtle, dolphins, and some fish jumping in the water long before we saw a fish on the line!

It wasn't until 9:40a.m. that the reel at the back of the boat that nobody was manning finally got a hit!!  Tom jumped up and had the task of reeling him in (although I guess technically that was my pole since I was the one that wasn't currently holding a pole). :)  It only took a couple of minutes to reel in a 10-12lb Amberjack Tuna (at least that's what we think it is).  The catch woke the boat up and we hoped we would see more action, but unfortunately that would be the only catch of the day.  At least we weren't skunked!  Tom was talking to some other tourists at the beach who had gone fishing yesterday and they had come back empty.  The guides fileted the fish and told us the hotel would cook it for us. We came back to the hotel and talked to the chef at the snack bar and arranged that he would cook it for us for lunch.  It was very delicious!!  It wasn't very fishy at all and was very meaty.  

The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool and watching the kids play in the waves at the beach. Tomorrow is the zip lining adventure!

River Cruise

We had quite the adventure today. I started my morning by going for a run . . . and even though it was only 1 mile, boy can I feel it in my legs. It is super hilly here!! After breakfast we began the hunt for the tour guide we met on the beach yesterday that we wanted to book some tours with. After running up and down stairs and climbing hills, we found him and booked the river cruise excursion for the afternoon. The excursion took us on about an 1 1/2 hour bus ride to our destination. On our way we stopped for a traditional Costa Rican lunch of chicken, rice, beans, corn tortillas, and salad. It was super delicious. I enjoyed every bite.

The river cruise had us going down the Tempisque River full of crocodiles!! We must have seen at least a dozen, in addition to iguanas, birds, howler monkeys, and white faced monkeys. The tour guide had stopped on our way to the river to buy some raw chicken legs to feed the crocodiles. That was really neat to see the crocodiles up close. Only the tour guide fed them and I'm glad! I can't believe how close he put his had to the crocodiles mouth!!



The highlight of the trip though, was when we finally saw the white faced monkeys and we brought out the bananas we were told to bring. I think we had about 12 monkeys climbing on the boat, on people's heads, and taking the bananas right from our hands. That was so cool!!! What an experience. Overall we had a great day and we were able to book the remaining excursions that we wanted to do. Tomorrow morning we head out bright and early for some deep sea fishing, Tuesday we're going on a horseback/zip line, thermal mud bath adventure, and on Wednesday we are going on an ATV tour. Thursday is left to relax by the pool!!!

Costa Rica!!!

Hola!! We are now blogging from Costa Rica!!! Yesterday we got up at 3:00a.m. to begin our travels. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:00a.m., but after a delay for deicing, a delay for hydraulics problem, a delay by the airport to clear the runway of a dusting of snow, we were finally on our way an hour and a half after our origial take off. Yes, this meant we missed our connection in Atlanta for Costa Rica. There are 18 of us traveling together and unfortunately Delta could not get us all on another flight to Costa Rica. Several of us went on 3 different flights to Miami to catch a later flight to Costa Rica. Unfortunately Pete, Laurie, and the kids had to stay in Atlanta until today since Delta told us that the later flight to Costa Rica was full. Sad to say what actually happened was that Delta triple book several of us on the later Costa Rica flight which made it look full, but in reality there were several seats open. The Curriers could have joined us . . . errrr. However, they did make it here today.

This morning Tom and I slept in and enjoyed some time by the pool. We talked to a tour guide and figured out the tours we would like to do later this week. I think we may be going on a river cruise tomorrow where we can feed monkeys and see some crocodiles. On Monday we are going deep sea fishing with Tom´s dad and Pete´s dad. Later in the week we plan on doing a horseback riding/zip lining/thermal mud bath tour. I think we will also try to do an ATV tour. The hotel is very nice and weather perfect. Looking forward to a great week. Hope to upload some pictures later, but there is no WIFI in the room and we are using the community computer for now. Buenos Noches!!